José Eduardo dos Santos

dos Santos, José Eduardo (zhōzĕˈ ēħwärˈdō dōs säNˈtōz) [key], 1942–, president of Angola (1979–). Educated in the USSR as an engineer, he was foreign minister in the first government of independent Angola, succeeding Neto as president in 1979. In 1991, he abandoned Marxism and negotiated an end to the civil war with the insurgent National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA). The peace ended when dos Santos outpolled UNITA candidate Jonas Savimbi for the presidency, and UNITA forces resumed fighting (1992). A second peace effort in 1994 also ended in fighting, which lasted from 1998 to 2002. Under dos Santos, economic growth in some sectors (oil and diamonds) has led to significant corruption.